Aquatic Botany 172 (2021) 103395 Available online 22 April 2021 0304-3770/© 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Distribution of macroalgae epiphytes and host species from the Cuban marine shelf inferred from ecological modelling Abdiel Jover a, e, *, Asiel Cabrera a , Alieex Ramos a , Maurício H. Vancine b , Ana M. Su´ arez c , John Machell d , Jos´ e Lucas P´ erez-Llor´ ens e a Departamento de Biología y Geografía, Universidad de Oriente, Patricio Lumumba s/n, Santiago de Cuba, CP 90 500, Cuba b Instituto de Biociˆ encias, Departamento de Biociˆ encias, Laborat´ orio de An´ alise e Síntese em Biodiversidade, Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), Av. 24-A, 1515, Bela Vista, Rio Claro, S˜ ao Paulo, 13506-900, Brazil c Centro de Investigaciones Marinas, Universidad de La Habana, Calle 16, No. 114, e/ 1ra y 3ra, Miramar, La Habana, CP 11300, Cuba d Pennine Water Group, University of Sheffeld, Sir Frederick Mappin Building, Mappin Street, Sheffeld, S1 3JD, United Kingdom e Instituto Universitario de Investigaci´ on Marina (INMAR), Universidad de C´ adiz (Campus Universitario de Puerto Real, Puerto Real, C´ adiz, 11510, Spain A R T I C L E INFO Keywords: Ecological modelling Marine variables Algae-algae interactions Niche breadth Niche overlap Generalist species ABSTRACT Ecological Niche Modelling (ENM) is a tool widely used in ecology to determine environmental conditions and the potential distribution of species. In this article we assess the potential distribution, tolerance limits and similarity niche of macroalgae epiphytes and hosts from the Cuba marine shelf. Using different methods (BIO- CLIM, Gower, Maxent and SVM) we have modelled the niche for each species. The fnal prediction map of distribution was made using the ensemble prediction technique. The similarity of ENMs was quantifed by Schoener D and Hellinger I distance. The predictive power of all models was reasonable, since the values of the area under the curve (AUC) were greater than 0.9. The host macroalgae most closely related to the spatial distribution pattern of potential abundance of epiphytic macroalgae are Stypopodium zonale (Kendall correlation, r 2 = 0.886) and Digenea simplex (Kendall correlation, r 2 = 0.777). Environmental variables that contributed mostly (30 %) to the ecological niche models were: the average maximum salinity per year (35.536 PSU); the average minimum fow velocity per year (0.2 m⋅s 1 ) and the average minimum light at ground level per year (1060 E⋅m 2 ⋅yr 1 ). The results show that epiphytic macroalgae and their most common hosts are generalist species (niche width 0.8) with high overlap in their niche (Schoener D > 0.7; Hellinger I distance = I > 0.6). 1. Introduction Epiphytic marine macroalgae are multicellular algae (encrusted, leaf-like or branched forms) that live on another photosynthetic or- ganism (Hurd et al., 2014; Taylor, 2019). Epiphyticism is common in marine benthic communities where macroalgae adhere to the surface of host algae (Gauna et al., 2015; Zheng et al., 2015), seagrasses (Karsten et al., 2000; Borowitzka et al., 2006), or mangrove roots (Hogarth, 2015). These primary basic species (algae, mangroves) provide habitat for the macro-algae epiphytes and increase the richness and diversity of the ecosystem (Thomsen et al., 2018; Gribben et al., 2019). Epiphytes are important for understanding the structure, composi- tion and functioning of marine ecosystems. For example, they can reduce water movement within seagrass meadows (Borowitzka et al., 2006) and minimize damage from desiccation stress (Penhale and Smith, 1977; Bruno et al., 2003). In addition, the specifc composition of epiphytes can become a source of nutrients for the growth of seagrasses when the biomass of the epiphyte becomes higher than that of its host (Penhale and Smith, 1977; Mazzella and Alberte, 1986). Epiphytes contribute signifcantly to the productivity of this ecosystem, both vertically (as part of the trophic structure) and horizontally (abundance and heterogeneity within the trophic levels) (Borowitzka et al., 2006). Additionally, they alter conditions and resources at the micro-scale level, which provide food and shelter ( ´ Alvarez- ´ Alvarez et al., 2020), and protect other algae under acidifying marine conditions (Guy-Haim et al., 2020). The taxonomic composition and diversity of epiphytic macroalgae depend largely on the properties of host macroalgae such as longevity, surface area, size and morphological architecture (Creed, 2000; ´ Alvarez- ´ Alvarez et al., 2020). In tropical habitats, the richness and * Corresponding author at: Departamento de Biología y Geografía, Universidad de Oriente, Patricio Lumumba s/n, Santiago de Cuba, CP 90 500, Cuba. E-mail address: ajover@uo.edu.cu (A. Jover). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Aquatic Botany journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/aquabot https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aquabot.2021.103395 Received 24 February 2020; Received in revised form 11 March 2021; Accepted 16 April 2021